GARDINER – Dennis Meehan accounted for 25 points and 131 total yards Friday night as Gardiner beat Morse 31-8 in an Eastern Class B high school football game at Hoch Field.

“It’s just one step at a time and we want to go as far as we can,” Meehan said. “First game at home, this is what we wanted to do.”

Meehan accounted for all of his points in the first half, 14 on the first two drives of the game.

“He’s a great athlete,” Morse Coach Jason Darling said.

Meehan, a quarterback who finished with 67 yards passing and 64 rushing, capped the first drive of the game with a 52-yard touchdown on a sweep, then provided the extra point to give Gardiner (2-0) a 7-0 lead.

“I just saw open grass,” Meehan said. “I saw the block in front of me and that was it. The rest was history.”

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On the next series, while playing cornerback, Meehan stepped in front of a Kevin McKellar pass, intercepted it and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown. His extra point made it 14-0.

“It just tipped off his fingers and it was there for a play,” Meehan said.

After forcing a three-and-out on the next series, Gardiner marched again, and Meehan threw 21 yards to Tyler Jamison for a 21-0 lead in the first quarter.

Gardiner then scored on the first drive of the second quarter, when a 46-yard pass from Meehan to Jamison set up a 9-yard touchdown run up the middle by Seth Wing.

Meehan’s extra-point kick then made it 28-0.

On the next series, Meehan got the opportunity to show off a strong kicking leg. With the holder set up in the middle of the field, Meehan nailed a 40-yard field goal to stretch the lead to 31-0.

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“It felt good,” Meehan said.

Gardiner led 31-0 at halftime.

The Tigers stayed in control in the second half, mostly on the running of Steve Sirois, Tyler Caron and Jeff Abram. Sirois finished with 89 rushing yards, Caron had 57 and Abram 40.

Darling said he was surprised by the physical play of the Tigers.

“I didn’t think they were as physical as they were up front and they were very aggressive tonight,” Darling said.

Morse’s score came on a fumble recovery in the end zone in the fourth quarter. D’Vaughn Myers took a sweep 25 yards to the 1 before fumbling, and Scott Peterson recovered the ball for the score.

McKellar scored the 2-point conversion on a bootleg to bring the Shipbuilders within 31-8.

Morse (1-1) found soft spots in the middle of the Tigers’ pass coverage, allowing McKellar to finish with 202 passing yards and Keegan Drouin with 141 receiving yards.

 


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